1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit package.
2. Background Information
Integrated circuits are typically assembled into a package that is soldered to a printed circuit board. There are many types of integrated circuit packages including ball grid array (BGA) packages. BGA packages include a plurality of solder balls that are attached to a substrate. The solder balls are eventually reflowed to mount the package to a printed circuit board.
An integrated circuit is mounted to the BGA package substrate and typically wire bonded to bond pads of the substrate. The bonded integrated circuit and substrate are then placed into a mold that is injected with a plastic material. The injected plastic encloses both the integrated circuit and the bond wires.
FIG. 1 shows a typical wire bonded BGA package which has a number of wire bonds 1 that couple an integrated circuit 2 to a substrate 3 before the injection of plastic. The plastic is typically introduced through a gate at the corner(s) of the integrated circuit. The plastic is injected into the mold at very high pressures to insure that the integrated circuit is completely encapsulated.
As shown in FIG. 2, it has been found that the injected plastic 4 creates a "wire sweep" in the bond wires 1. A significant wire sweep can break the bond wires and create a defective part. It would be desirable to provide an injection molded wire bonded package that is less susceptible to wire sweep than packages in the prior art.